Rail-joint.



1 0 m V 0 N d 6 t n B I. a P

'GLF. MEAD.

BAIL JOINT.

(Applicationflled Mar. 13, 1909.)

(No Iodel.)

WI TNEJDE 5.

' AMA/ PATENT Fri.

CLARENCE F. MEAD, OF KANSAS OITY, MISSOURI.

' RAILV-JOIN T.

SiECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 661,150, dated November6, 1 900.

Application fil d March 13, 1900. serial No. 8,534. on mocleh! To allwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CLARENCE F. MEAD, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others to makeand use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification.

The objects of my invention are, first, to prevent the jar resulting tothe car-wheel and transmitted to the vehicle in passing over therail-joint; second, to obviate the necessity of welding the track-railsin street-railways,

and, third, the securing of the rail-chair from longitudinal movement.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination ofparts, such as will be first fully described, and specifically pointedout in the claims. i In the drawings, Figure l is a View in perspectiveof portionsof separate longitudinal track-rails endwise in position,showing the invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a plan View of theinvention as seen in Fig. 1. Fig.

3 is a vertical sectional view takenupon the line X X of Fig. 2. Fig. 4is a detail view from the outer side of the improved "splice-' bar orfish-joint, also showing the lug for the 8 is a detail View of the endportion of the other track-rail, showing its recessed side por-' tion.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

Referring to the drawings, A A represent separate longitudinal Ttrack-rails of wellknown'construction arranged endwise in position, andCt a. the ends of said rails, which are at slight distances apart fromeach other. a represents the flanged base, a the web, and

Fig. 7 isa detail view in per-" 1), which rests upon the said upperinclined portion of the base a, andthe outer edge I) of said portionextended a short distance beyond the outer edge 'of said flanged base.

0 represents the rail-chairat the junction of the rails A A, which issimilar in construction to that in ordinary use, and consists of thebed-plate 0, upon the upper surface of which the ends of the rails A Aareplaced in position, and of the flanged portions 0' c of said plate,

which are bent at right angles to the plate 0 and the bent portionsextended upwardly a short distance, as at 0 and thence bent inwardly inthe direction of the websa of the rails A A and downwardly upon theupper surface of the flange b of the fish-joint B upon one side of thetrack-rails A A and upon the upper surface of the flange d of thereinforcing joint-bar D upon the other side of the trackrails in thecompletion of laying the trackrails. In the present instance and for thepurposes of the invention the base-plate c of chair 0 is made in excessof the width of the flange a of rail A and so far as is necessary forthe introduction of the improved combined rail-reinforcing fish-joint orsplicebar D, which consists of the flat upright portion d, which is ofthe same width and length .as the portion 1) of the fish-joint B, and ofthe outwardly extended and downwardly inclined portion d, which is ofthe same width asthe portion 1) of said joint or bar B.

Upon the upper horizontal edge of the portion (Z of the bar D at a pointequidistant from the ends of said bar is an upward extension (1 of thesaid portion def .said bar, which is equal to the combined length of therecesses of a in the rails A A and to the thickness vertically of thehead or tread a of the said rails and laterally to the width of theportion of the said head outside of the web a, and which extension (Zforms a con tinuation of the heads of said rails. Said extended portion(1 of rail D is rectangular in shape and extends the proper distance inthe direction of the ends of the bar cl as is necessary to break jointswith the ends ct a of the track-rails A A. Near the ends a a andextending from said ends a short distance in the direction of the otherends of the rails in the portion of the heads a of said rails are therecesses (t a, the inner surfaces of which recesses vertically are inthe plane of the surfaces of the webs (t the ends of said recesses beingat right angles to the web a and in which recesses extends thereinforcing plate or extension (Z of the fish-joint or bar D. The endsof the plate d are curved in a slight degree, as at 1 and thebearing-surface of the ends of the rails and the ends of the recesses,as at a are slightly depressed.

Upon the inner side of the bar D and upon the under side of the portiond of said bar in a vertical line with the plate (Z is a downwardextension d (see Fig. 5) of the same length as the plate (1*. In theupperinclined surface of the flanged base a of the rails A A are thehorizontal depressions (1, which receive the extension d of the bar D.Upon the upper inclined surface of the flange d of the bar D is a lug (1In the edge of the flanged portion 0' of the chair 0, extending over theflange d of bar D, is a recess 0 which receives the lug and preventslongitudinal movement of the bar D. In the web a of the rails A A arethe transverse boltopenings (6 slightly elongated, and in the portion (Zof bar D are the openings (Z and in the upright portion b of bar B arethe trans verse openings 19 which openings (Z and b register with theopenings to in the rails A A.

In the assemblage of the rails A A and the joint-bars B and D within thechair 0 the base ct of the ends a (t of said rails are placed upon theupper surface of the base cof chair 0, near the portion a on the outerside of the chair C, and the improved joint D placed in position againstthe web on the inner side of said rails, the flange d passing beneaththe inner flange c of the joint-chair C and the reinforcing-plate dinserted within the recesses a a at the end of each rail A A, the heelor extension 61* on the inner side of the bar D resting upon thehorizontal surface in the recess a of the base ct of the rails and thelug d extended within the recess 0 in the flange 0' of the chair 0, theends CL CL of the rails A A being spaced apart the proper distance forthe usual expansion of the rails. In this position of the rails A A andbar D the fish-joint or bar B is placed upon the outer side of the railsA A, parallel in position with the web (t and with the end of theflanged portion 1) beneath the flange c of the jointchair C, and thesaid bar forced by a sliding movement in position with its endequidistant from the chair, this action causing the base a of the rail Ato move to a position equidistant from the portions 0 c of the chair Cand the outer edge of the flange d to come into contact with the innerside of the chair and wedging the base of the rails A A between theflange d and the plate 0 of the chair 0. The screw bolts E are theninserted through the respective openings (1 and b in the respective barsD and B and through the openings at in the rails A A and the nuts 6fitted upon the screw-threaded end of said bolts. The wheels of the caror locomotive in passing over the track-rails A A and in approaching thejoint between the contiguous ends a a of the separate rails uponreaching the end of the reinforcing'plate (1 first presented will bearwholly upon that part of the tread a of the rail over the web, and uponreaching the space between the ends of the rails will bear wholly uponsaid reinforcingplate, and in passing off the other end of the platewill bear wholly on the tread a the bearing-surface at the ends of therails A A and the ends of the recesses in the rails and the ends of thereinforcing-plate 61 being depressed sufficiently to accomplish thisresult, thus preventing the jar incident to a carwheel in passing overthe space between the rails, which not only tends to flatten the wheel,but transmits the jar to the Vehicle, and loosening all the bolts uponthe vehicle and endangering its safety.

In my invention where applied to streetrailways the necessity of weldingthe ends of the rails together, which is incurred with great cost, isobviated. The longitudinal movement of the chair 0 is prevented by thelug d and obviously is of great importance in a continuous track wherethe chair is unsupported. In order to secure the chair to the ties,portions of the plate 0 of the chair at each end are cut away, as at c,which admits of the grasp of the head of the spike upon the portion a ofthe chair which is presented to the bolt. In case the fish-bar D isrigidly connected with one track-rail without play, the recess 0 in theflange c of the chair 0 will be made large enough to admit of themovement of the lug d in said recess resulting from the expansion of thesaid rail.

I have shown the bearing-surface at the ends of the rails and the endsof the recesses in the rails and the ends of the surfaces of plate dslightly curved or depressed, so as to remove the liability of any wearresulting from the tread of the car-wheel in passing over said ends, itbeing evident that the bearing-points of a car-wheel the surface ofwhich is slightly inclined willvary, especially in describing curves ina track; but these surfaces of the reinforcing-plate may be in the sameplane as the head of the rail. Other modifications may be made withinthe scope of the invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I new claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with track-rails having recesses in the sides of theflanged heads of the contiguous end portions of separate rails, of arail-joint chair having its base extending beyond the edge of theflanged base of said rails, and upwardly-extended, inwardly-bent flangedportions of said chair, a fishplate upon the sides of said rails havinga laterallyextended, downwardly-inclined flange upon its lower edge, andan upwardly-extended rail-reinforcing plate upon its upper edge andwithin the recesses of said rails, and a fishplate upon the other sideof said rails, and an outwardly extended, downwardly inclined flangeupon the lower edge of said fish-plate, adapted to wedge the track-railsin position, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the track rails having recesses in the sides ofthe flanged heads of the contiguous end portions of sepa-- rate rails,of a rail-joint chair having its base extending beyond the edges of theflanged base of said rails, and upwardly-extended, in= Wardly-bentflanged portions of said chair, a fish-plate upon the sides of saidrails, having a laterally-extended, downwardly-inclined flange upon itslower edge, an upwardly-ex tended rail-reinforcing plate supported bysaid fish-plate and within the recesses of said rails, and a fish-plateupon the other side of said rails, and an outwardly-extended,downwardly-inclined flange upon the lower edge of said fish-plate,adapted to Wedge the trackrails in position, substantially as described;

CLARENCE F. MEADi Witnesses:

JOHN D. PARKINSON, JOHN T. MARSHALL

